Ensuring free registration has always been my priority.
Needless to say, the process of providing justice to a
victim of a cognizable crime cannot begin unless an
FIR is registered upon complaint. My endeavour as CP,
Delhi, for free registration has received total
support from the highest echelons of the Government.
The media has also been objective in reporting the
crime scenario. An increase in the registration of
crimes, particularly street crimes, since August 2013
displays that policemen in Delhi have started
overcoming their inhibitions. We must stamp out
burking from our functioning as it is one of the major
causes of public dissatisfaction.

The year 2013 has been witness to the
meticulous implementation of a slew of measures
pertaining to women’s safety. These include increasing
the number of call-takers on the Telephone Nos. 100
and 1091; creation of 24x7 women helpdesks at all
police stations; conversion of 522 posts of male
Constables to that of Woman Constables and creation of
additional posts of 306 W/SIs and 778 Woman
Constables; interaction with students and teachers of
girls colleges and schools; self defence training
programmes; deployment of PCR vans, Motor Cycles and
pickets to cover vulnerable locations and appointment
of a Spl.CP level officer for holding regular
interaction with NGOs and civil society. We must
appreciate that as long as every woman on Delhi’s
streets does not feel fully safe, our task is
incomplete.

While maintaining a clear focus on women’s
safety, Delhi Police planned meticulous operations
against desperate criminal gangs and terrorists. The
arrest of Abdul Karim Tunda (LeT) was a testimony to
these efforts. The Crime Branch, Special Cell and
Districts officers apprehended 63 desperate criminals,
43 of whom carried rewards ranging from Rupees 50,000
to 5 lakh for their arrest. Eight desperate criminals
were killed when police personnel had to fire in self
defence during certain encounters. Enhanced
registration as a result of the efforts for free
registration has led to the solving of 3,242 heinous
crimes as against 2,042 such cases during the previous
year. This increase exhibits that many more criminals
have been brought to book. A total of 36,134 IPC
cases were solved as compared to 27,544 IPC cases
during the previous year. Almost all sensational
murders and robberies including the quadruple murder
cum robbery of Vivek Vihar were solved in record time.

On the law and order front, the performance of
Delhi Police has been commendable. Both the Special
Branch as well as the local police have shown deep
appreciation of developments having a bearing on the
law & order scenario. A large number of festivals,
important government and private functions/events,
dharnas, demonstrations, morchas, rasta roko, protest
programmes and bandhs were managed peacefully because
of due appreciation of the situation and meticulous
planning and execution of arrangements made by all the
concerned units. A total of 11,047 demonstrations,
rallies, dharnas, strikes, fairs and festivals were
held in the city. The year also saw visits by
important foreign dignitaries including the Prime
Minister of the United Kingdom, President of France,
Emperor and Empress of Japan, PM of Iraq, Premier of
China, President of Egypt and the President of
Afghanistan. A number of international summits and
conferences were also hosted in Delhi including the
meetings of the ASEAN and the BRICS.

Traffic is an area which affects every
citizen’s life. Multimodal traffic, rapid unplanned
commercialisation along roads and highways, an
indifferent attitude towards road safety had been
responsible for a disturbingly high accident rate in
Delhi. However, it has consistently been coming down
in recent years due to the untiring efforts of the
Traffic unit of Delhi Police. The number of
fatalities due to accidents have reduced from 1,801
(in 2012) to 1,725 (in 2013), which is the lowest in
the last 10 years. Nevertheless one wonders why
should the unpardonable loss of human lives and
serious injuries in road accidents be tolerated and
how road safety should be a greater priority of all
concerned including the road users. It pains me to
see two wheeler riders wearing helmets, without
strapping, only to escape police action. More
intriguing is the utter disregard to their safety by
the cyclists and pedestrians. Road users, civil
society and all other influential individuals and
groups – whether governmental, social, religious and
political – need to extend their full support to make
roads safer.

Mobility with safety has to be the guiding
principle for any Traffic manager. To achieve this,
the Traffic unit needs to build its action plan on the
four pillars of Education, Regulation, Enforcement and
Road Engineering (ERER) – all well known facets of
traffic management. The mantra of ERER
however, needs to become a vision shared by all
traffic personnel so that they do not remain moribund
and freely contribute newer ideas to enhance mobility
with safety.

Community participation in policing is a
sine qua non for public satisfaction. We must
involve people, wherever possible, in policing. In
this process, Delhi Police threw open 45 police
stations across Delhi for inspection by people
residing in the jurisdiction of these police
stations. The exercise was conducted on globally
accepted methods and parameters by an independent
global body called Altus Global Alliance.

About 5000 citizens took part in this
inspection conducted between 4 – 9 November, 2013,
coordinated by the Vigilance Unit of the Delhi
Police. The average score of the 45 police stations
was 83.38. The all-India average was 79.44. The
visitors felt that the participating police stations
in Delhi on an average were more than adequate on four
of the five categories identified for the assessment.

In order to promote a long lasting partnership
with community to enhance safety and reduce fear of
crime, the mechanism of Neighbourhood Watch Scheme,
which aims at enhancing the security of a
neighbourhood by harnessing the capabilities of its
residents, has been revived as the main thrust area
for people-police interface. Partners in the
Neighbourhood Watch Scheme are the residents and the
local police station. Office bearers are not being
imposed or nominated by police. Local community
leaders selected/elected by residents and local
Division and Beat Staff are to manage these schemes
with the objective of improving security of the
concerned area.

I firmly believe that policing’s boundaries are
defined by the law of the land. It, however, does not
mean that there is no scope for innovation and
experimentation. In fact, out of the box solutions
-whether commonsense based or rooted in technology -
as long as within the confines of law, need to be
encouraged. A number of ideas have emerged during my
interaction with the rank and file of Delhi Police,
some of them like dedicated mechanism for
transportation and disposal of unidentified dead
bodies; car free area around Boat Club during certain
hours; use of reflective jackets by policemen after
sunset; revamping of in-service training including
regular lectures for Officers of the rank of Addl.DCP
and above; mobilisation of two additional Coys of CP
Reserve; and pro-active tasking of Crime Branch and
Special Cell to assist local police immediately after
the occurrence of serious crimes have already been
rolled out. A number of other ideas are being
incubated and their roll out in 2014 may further help
in performing our task better.

Policing is an onerous responsibility. Despite
constraints, we have maintained peace and order and we
must give our best to sustain the same. When, I was
DGP, Goa, I had come across an old police flag where
three words ‘Shanti, Seva, Nayaya’ i.e. ‘Peace,
Service, Justice’ were inscribed. Nothing can better
define a policeman’s task than these three words as
responsibility of preserving peace has to be
discharged with a sense of service and an eye on fair
play. To enable us to be constantly enthused to give
our best to serve the people, the words ‘Shanti,
Seva, Nayaya’ have been inscribed in the logo of
Delhi Police in the space available in the ribbon at
the base of the logo.

Lastly, during the year 2013, Delhi Police personnel
have served the people with distinction and have
displayed the capacity to shoulder the burden of
maintaining peace and tranquillity in the capital
city. I am sure we shall display the same spirit
during the year 2014.